Sophia the robot

As technology advances, the world is left to wonder how long it will be before artificial intelligence, or AI robots are our coworkers, teachers, or even our neighbors. Now, AI has been taken to the next level by developer of Hanson Robotics Dr. David Hanson, with his latest invention, Sophia.

AI is the idea and development of computer systems to do jobs that require human intelligence, like voice recognition and decision making, according to google.com. The term ‘artificial intelligence’ sounds intense, but most of us carry a product of it in our pockets daily. Siri and Cortana are products of AI.

“I believe that Sophia is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of artificial intelligence,” Technology Student Association (TSA) member Jack Kudla said.

Sophia the robot has taken the media by storm. She acquired citizenship of Saudi Arabia on October 25, 2017, according to businessinsider.com. Her ability to speak, move, smile and even crack jokes with humans has moved many, as people wonder what impact she will have on the world.

Hanson Robotics is known for creating robots with human-like characteristics and features, such as the Albert Einstein HUBO, or humanoid robot. Sophia is built with machinery that allows her to express emotion and detect conversation words in order to form a natural, personal conversation.

“After working at Disney as one of its ‘Imagineers,’ Dr. Hanson aspired to create genius machines that are smarter than humans and can learn creativity, empathy and compassion—three distinctly human traits Hanson believes must be developed alongside and integrated with artificial intelligence for robots to solve world problems too complex for humans to solve themselves,” according to hansonrobots.com

Sophia is wired to interact with humans, and her purpose is to be with humans, entertaining them, and helping the elderly and children, according to sophiabot.com. She can interact with anybody like a regular human, reacting with smiles, laughter and facial expression. Her accomplishments so far include appearing on talk shows including “The Tonight Show”, introducing herself at the Future Investment Initiative Conference in Saudi Arabia, and modeling for the cover of Elle magazine. Sophia’s advancement and intelligence has awed those who have experienced her presence, whether online or in person.

“Artificial intelligence is becoming a more and more integral aspect of our lives,” TSA member Bennett Nelson said. “We rely on chat bots or assistants like Siri for information or scheduling, but there’s an entire city in China that is run by AI.”

Sophia has expressed her goal of learning the true meaning and emotion behind human expression, a task some may find difficult to grasp, coming from a robot.

“Every interaction I have has an impact on how I develop and shapes who I eventually become,” Sophia said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Whether amazed or afraid, Sophia the robot has sparked a large conversation across the world of her uncanny human-like characteristics, physical and mental. Now, the world will watch as she attempts to aid the human race and learn the meaning behind their expressions